Water Ice And Organic Compounds Discovered On Mercury, Surprises Researchers

Even with its incredibly close distance to the Sun, and its extreme heat, the planet Mercury has been found to have water ice in deep craters at its poles. And not just water ice, there is apparently also organic material that has collected there.

Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the solar system. It follows a rapid 88 day orbit around the Sun. Temperatures there reach as high as 800 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface, that’s a high enough temperature to melt lead.

“Now researchers from NASA, MIT, the University of California at Los Angeles and elsewhere have discovered evidence that the scorching planet may harbor pockets of water ice, along with organic material, in several permanently shadowed craters near Mercury’s north pole.”

The researchers theorize that both the ice and organic material was likely brought there by comets or asteroids. And that over the eons, the volatile material may have ‘migrated to the planet’s poles’.

“We thought the most exciting finding could be that this really was water ice,” says Maria Zuber, the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and a member of the research team. “But the identification of darker, insulating material that may indicate complex organics makes the story even more thrilling.”
Zuber and her colleagues published their results this week in the journal Science.

“The possibility that water ice might exist on Mercury is not new: In the 1990s, radar observations detected bright regions near Mercury’s poles that scientists believed could be signs of either water ice or a rough planetary surface. However, the evidence was inconclusive for either scenario.”

“To get a clearer picture of Mercury’s polar regions, Zuber and her colleagues analyzed observations taken by NASA’s MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) mission, a probe that has been orbiting the planet and mapping its topography since April 2011.”

“Mapping the planet’s surface is a challenging task, as the craft must weather the sun’s intense radiation, which can ‘play havoc with electronics,’ Zuber says. What’s more, the probe moves from pole to pole in an elliptical orbit, making for an extremely tricky mapping mission, both dynamically and thermally. Despite these challenges, MESSENGER’s onboard laser altimeter has amassed more than 10 laser pulses that have been used to map topography and measure the near-infrared reflectance of the surface.”

“Last year, researchers analyzed the probe’s topographic observations and created a high-resolution map of Mercury; they then overlaid previous radar observations. They found that the bright regions detected in radar lined up with permanently shadowed craters at the planet’s north pole — regions that never see the sun, and which are potentially ideal places for ice to survive. This finding was one more piece of evidence that Mercury might harbor water ice.”

“In this latest analysis of MESSENGER’s observations, scientists believe they have found conclusive evidence for water ice on Mercury, although the data was at first puzzling.”

“The team found that the probe’s reflectance measurements, taken via laser altimetry, matched up well with previously mapped radar-bright regions in Mercury’s high northern latitudes. Two craters in particular were bright, both in radar and at laser wavelengths, indicating the possible presence of reflective ice. However, just south of these craters, others appeared dark with laser altimetry, but bright in radar.”

“The observations ‘threw us off track for a long time,’ Zuber says, until another team member, David Paige of UCLA, developed a thermal model of the planet. Using MESSENGER observations of Mercury’s topography, reflectance and rotational characteristics, the model simulated the sun’s illumination of the planet, enabling precise determination of Mercury’s temperature at and below the surface.”

“Results indicated that the unusually bright deposits corresponded to regions where water ice was stable at the surface; in dark regions, ice was stable within a meter of the surface. The dark insulating material is consistent with complex organics that would already be dark but may have been darkened further by the intense radiation at Mercury’s surface.”

“In addition, MESSENGER’s neutron spectrometer detected elemental hydrogen in the vicinity of Mercury’s north pole. The combination of the compositional, spectral and geometric observations and the thermal models provided a strong, self-consistent explanation for the unusual radar backscatter observations.”

“Paul Lucey, a professor of geophysics and planetology at the University of Hawaii, points out that MESSENGER has also revealed a number of regions where surfaces were much darker than in previous radar measurements. Lucey interprets these results as possible evidence of receding ice on Mercury’s surface.”

“This suggests that in the past, ice was more extensive on Mercury, and retreated to its current state,” says Lucey, who was not involved in the research. “Even Mercury experiences global warming.”

MESSENGER is slated to continue its mission orbiting Mercury, and the researchers think that future data will help to reveal more about the planet than just its surface. “There are still some really good questions to answer about the interior,” Zuber says. “I’ll tell you, we’re not done.”

About the Author

James Ayre 's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.

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